Just a recent Cornell grad making her way through Manhattan's ad world, one blog at at a time and with an unhealthy travel obsession + a taste for photography.

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Although there’s always something to do at work, I know that sometimes after finishing a project (especially if it’s done faster than my bosses anticipated) I’m left with a bit of free time.

In those instances, here’s a few ideas that I’ve come up with to occupy your time effectively (inspired by Intern Queen’s article on the same topic, which I’ll include at the end of this post).

1) Browse the web: Depending on the specifics of your internship, websites may vary..but I know that as a current Social Media/Digital Marketing Intern I constantly scan http://www.Mashable.com. It’s the social media guru’s version of the New York Times. Speaking of the NYT, you might want to check up on that as well..it’s always good knowing what’s going on in the world. For PR, http://www.prdaily.com is a great start.

-Checking up on PR Firms’ Twitter accounts is always great too. They feature daily tips, inspirational quotes, useful articles and more. Plus, sometimes you’ll even find a good new website to browse!

2) Blog, blog blog! As I’m doing right now..hehehe. It’s always great to record some of the day’s highlights, as well as the downfalls. Writing things down will help get your mental hamster ball rolling. What did you absolutely love about the day? What cool new things did you learn? Find any great photos or info graphics? Share them! Answering these questions and more are a great way to keep track of your summer internship’s highlights..as well as some of the things you didn’t like much. But that’s okay too, because the negatives can always be improved upon!

3) Ask for more work: It’s not pushy, nor is it annoying (unless, of course, your boss is in the middle of an important phone call). They love to see interns taking initiative, and the more you can get done, the better!

4) Keep Up With Social Media: Depending on whether or not your internship allows you access to the company’s Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter pages and etcetera, you may or may not be able to do this step effectively. I get the passwords for Collective Media and Laffey Fine Homes’ accounts..plus a few of our clients. When I have downtime I pin relevant things to their pinboards, find great articles to post on Facebook, and come up with new Tweets (and reply to people who’ve tweeted at us! Plus it’s always great to thank new followers & always follow back!).

Of course these are just a few of the ideas to spice up your downtime. Intern Queen has come up with her own tips for making the most out of your internship experience. Check out her ideas–the very inspiration for this post– and feel free to add a few ideas of your own to the comment box below!

In terms of Social Media, it’s great to have posts on Facebook and Twitter that are simply fun and informative, without the ulterior motive of selling your product to a fan or follower. For Laffey Fine Homes I often put links to great restaurants on Long Island, fun things to do for the weekend (whether it be a concert or a place to bring the kids) and unique elements of the home like this one waterfall shower I found. I think my favorite topic of all is Fantasy Fridays, a theme I came up with, where I post gorgeous images of assorted travel destinations around the world.

But while all this is great and will start building up a stream of followers, sometimes, it IS important to market your product or idea…but tastefully. So, while on Sundays when I do often post a couple of our open houses, I try to keep things interesting during the rest of the week when posting one of Laffey’s listings. I’ll put a picture of the country-style kitchen or the pond in the backyard, an aerial shot of the property or a photo that accentuates the architectural elements of the home…anything that’ll catch a viewer’s eye. Photos are most important to include in all posts, because if someone’s attention is caught infinitesimally thanks to a great picture, then they’ll be more inclined to reading the post.

Fantasy Fridays: Bora Bora. This was one of our most famous posts on Laffey’s Facebook Fan Page. A picture really does speak volumes!

The easiest way to market your products is via another name with a bigger social media presence. Laffey Fine Homes has a property that was once the home of former NY Met, Carlos Beltran. I tweeted at AOL Real Estate–an account with over 1,000 followers–and they responded. My tweet was casual..something along the lines of “We love your listings! Check out one of our favorites,” with a link attached. Hopefully if they feature the listing on their Twitter, we’ll gain more followers with their help.

Waterfall Style Shower: another popular post for Laffey Fine Homes. A simple image speaks more than my words could to describe this cool feature.

Now, onto my assignment for Collective Media Group today. The goal is building clientele, rather than followers and in a city as grandiose as Manhattan, there’s two great ways of doing so:

1) Take advantage of Networking. At the office you can network with people in the elevator..those companies a floor above or below you–maybe even the other ones that share your floor–can make for a great client, and a conveniently close one at that.

2) Utilize the Web. Obviously both of these points apply to building clients in any part of the country or world, but NYC is great because a lot of the small, start-up businesses find it difficult to make a name for themselves in such a big city, so they look the the internet for help.

I’ll be utilizing the web today as I weave through Gilt City and GroupOn looking for the companies with the best deals. Then, I check out their website and Facebook Fan Page to see how active they are in Social Media and find contact information so my bosses can reach out to them personally. The worst thing that can happen is a rejection, but my philosophy is that being rejected is better than not being rejected or accepted. In other words, trying always surpasses inactivity–especially in this world.

Well, I better get to work. That’s it for now! Please feel free to like this post or follow me if you enjoy my blog..I follow back!

Do you know what would make the Twitterverse a lot more fun? If celebrities actually used their accounts! Social Media news website, Mashable, reported on 7 celebrities who they believe could truly help this cause.

Beyonce’s account has over 4.5 million followers, but she’s only tweeted once. Must’ve been a really riveting message! I know for sure we at CMG would LOVE to see more from her!

Funny man Adam Sandler doesn’t boast the same number of followers, but we’ll give him some time though; his anonymous publicist tweeted twice that Sandler is not yet active on the account.

J.K. Rowling actually warned her followers about her eminent inactivity: “This is the real me, but you won’t hear from me often I’m afraid, as pen and paper are my priority at the moment.” Luckily for her 1.2 million followers she has a whopping 13 tweets, which is much more than her other inactive A-List celebrity friends.

Naturally, we wouldn’t expect the creator of social media rival, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, to be an avid tweeter. However, we wish he would make more of an effort on the site. Atleast he did change his twit pic. Seems like Zuckerberg is more of an observer on Twitter; following over 800 people must mean he’s intrigued by some trending topics.

Also on Mashable’s list are actress Emma Stone, NBC News anchor Brian Williams (nothing newsworthy to report?) and Apple Senior Vice President, Scott Forstall. The irony doesn’t escape us on that last one…guess he didn’t download his own iPhone app!

So unless we can magically convince these famous folks to start tweeting, our next best option is to look before we leap. Next time we see those verified accounts pop up on “Who to Follow,” it seems like a great idea to click on their page first to ensure we’ll be getting updated tweets. If you’re interested in reading Mashable’s write up that inspired this blog, here’s the link: http://on.mash.to/MRzQK6